Inauguration of Horse Sculpture in Fabrica la Aurora

Alejandro Velasco

Alfredo Villasana, Xally Velasco, Coco Velasco y Joana Velasco

Andrea Chávez, Denisse Cuevas y Arturo de la Vega

Corte de listón

By Karla Ortiz

Sisal Gallery brings to the entire community a temporary exhibition by artist Alejandro Velasco, a foundry artist with an extensive career who has had exhibitions in the Hotel Rosewood, in the El Primer Deposito Gallery in Guanajuato, and in the Mendoza Galleries in Guadalajara and Los Cabos. He is currently exhibiting in Mexico City.

The rest of his works on exhibit are inside the Galería Sisal, but the largest and most eye-catching can be seen from outside, right at the entrance to the Fabrica La Aurora, alongside the sign.

Pelea de Caballos, as Velasco calls his sculpture, is about four meters wide and high. Velasco’s preferred materials are lost wax and bronze. Modeling the horses took approximately three months, and the smelting process took another two months. Velasco says it is the largest sculpture he has ever created but that he is working on an even larger one that will soon be unveiled for this year’s International Cervantino Festival in the city of Guanajuato.

Pelea de Caballos has already had several exhibitions. It was first unveiled in 2014 at the Congress of the Union in the Chamber of Deputies in Mexico City, then traveled to Toluca for two more exhibitions, and then arrived at the Festival Encuentro de las Almas in Valle de Bravo. The sculpture is to remain in San Miguel for approximately eight months and then will be taken to a new location.

Velasco said that his love for art began as a child, when he learned the art of smelting from his father, who owned a silver foundry. Due to the change in prices of materials, they adapted to working with bronze, and in 1985 he took over the management of the foundry, later dedicating himself to working with great artists and renowned sculptors such as Leonora Carrington and Juan Soriano, who helped him forge and polish his own technique. So far, Velasco has created around 360 sculptures of different sizes.